1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to anticancer agents in the form of particles, to anticancer compositions comprising the particles, and to methods employing the particles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The therapeutic index is a measure of how selective a drug is at producing its desired effects and can be defined as the ratio of the median lethal dose to the median effective dose, i.e., (LD.sub.50 /ED.sub.50) (see Goodman and Gilman, The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Eight Edition, p. 68-69). Virtually all anticancer agents have a low therapeutic index, e.g., less than about 1.0. Increasing the therapeutic index, e.g., by reducing toxicity or enhancing efficacy would provide more latitude to physicians in their duty of administering anticancer drugs to patients in need thereof. Consequently, methods to reduce toxicity and/or enhance efficacy of anticancer drugs and thus increase the therapeutic indices of such drugs would be of great value in the treatment of cancers.
In addition, poorly water-soluble drugs, such as poorly water-soluble anticancer agents, are not readily injectable via an intravenous (IV) bolus injection. The creation of injectable forms of poorly soluble drugs represents a formidable problem. It would be highly desirable to be able to provide poorly soluble drugs, such as poorly soluble anticancer agents, in an IV bolus injectable form.